Japan’s ‘First African University Dean’ On Being An Outsider

Oussouby Sacko is believed to be the first African-born president of a Japanese university Image credit: Oussouby Sacko

Oussouby Sacko, who was appointed dean of Japan's Kyoto Seika University earlier this month, has shared his experience as one of the few foreign nationals in Japan to reach a high post with BBC Newsday.

BBC NEWS report continues:

He says Japan and his native Mali share a culture of respect for elders, but says Japan with its low immigration numbers, is relatively closed society to outsiders:

“I think that Japanese people are a little afraid of how other people see their culture. They might think that 'people don’t share and understand the same codes as us'. So my whole life in Japan… has been spent to trying to open their eyes to other things and the outside world.”

The architecture professor contrasts his experience of living in China in the 1980s with his time in Japan:

“When I lived in China in the 80s people would touch you to see if you’re really that dark or if it's paint. But in Japan that would never happen – they are curious but don’t want to offend you.”

From my experience if you become good friends with Japanese people they will start to touch your hair and ask you ‘why is your skin so dark?’. I try to be close to them and explain where I come from. They have a superficial view of Africa because they don’t have information… [they think] that life is hard, that you have a lot of animals.”

The professor likes to inject elements of his own culture into university life, even addressing students at a welcoming ceremony this month in his native Bamanankan.

He says the biggest difference between West African and Japanese cultures is in non-verbal communication.

“People in Japan expect to others to immediately respond to that. It’s a big code of communication for them.”

Japan's birth rate has reached record lows and more than 20% of the population is over 65. Much has been said about Japan's need to widen immigration to mitigate this so-called demographic time bomb.

Prof Sacko believes this will be a big challenge:

“This is very delicate for them to even talk about. For me, it’s very important that they start to accept Japanese people and foreigners who can give them new ideas of how their society can develop. They don’t have to see all foreigners as the same, they should start to think ‘these people can be part of us’. ”